开心

Simply a Smile

By Joan Leotta

Inspired by the Chinese Terracotta Soldiers in Atlanta .

Many years ago the great and powerful lord Qin marched across fields, forests and rivers conquering all, until at last he could name himself Emperor over the vast and rich lands now known as China. Emperor Qin feared no man or thing. Only thoughts of his own death made his heart flutter like a plum blossom in the wind.

At last he devised a strategy to retain his power and poison for eternity. He ordered the making of an army of terracotta soldiers. Modelled on the bravest of actual warriors, this army would conquer enemies in the afterlife. After that time, whenever his Captains swept through villages pillaging eldest sons for the army, those known to have clay working talent were sent to the terracotta army worksite.

The Village

At that time, beside a mountain stream there was a village, blessed with an abundance of rich, red, terracotta clay. Over centuries its people became renowned for their artistry. Fame drew the Emperor’s attention and one fine spring day his horsemen thundered toward that village to exact the cruel tax of one son per family.

Among the most talented families was that of Li Wu. He had only a daughter. She crafted pottery that was deemed exceptional even in that village of superb achievement. Li Hui Zhong’s slim fingers fashioned faces so real that people often swore the statues spoke.

But at that time it was not considered proper for young women to work terracotta. So, Li Hui Zhong cut off her cascade of silken black hair. She dressed as a young man and covered her face with kiln ash to hide her soft features. The others respected her skill, so they kept the secret and she was known as Li Wu the Younger. Some even forgot that she was really a woman.

Hsiang Xirui did not forget. His family raised horses for the army. He wanted to marry Li Hui Zhong.

“I will take you and your father behind the walls of our courtyard. You can work with terracotta as you wish I will keep you safe,” he told her.

Li Hui Zhong loved the strong, gentle Hsiang Xirui and agreed to marry him.

But Emperor Qin’s plans trampled theirs.

Plans Overtaken

The sky was blue and the air was filled with the scent of plum blossom when the Captain of the Emperor’s Guard rode into their village. He read loudly from a scroll: “It is the Emperor’s will that each family surrender one son. Some will make his new Army of the Afterlife and the others will have the usual honor of serving in the army of this world!” The Captain already had a list of those who would be taken and where.

First on the terracotta list was “ Li Wu the Younger.” Li Wu wanted to take his daughter’s place. But she knew that her father could not avoid discovery.

Li Hui Zhong’s tears ran down her clay-stained face like two waterfalls in the mountains. “I will go, father, and serve the Emperor.”

The other village potters agreed to help her continue to live secretly as a man. Her father would be safe, but her heart was broken.

Hsiang Xirui wanted and ride off with Li Hui Zhong but he knew that their families would be punished severely for such disobedience. So, his heart also broken, he went to conquer more lands for the Emperor in this life.

The Emperor’s Workshop

Li Hui Zhong’s first sight of the vast village of terracotta workers was of rows of huts and block-shaped work huts covered in a cloud of smoke that extended all the way to the mountains behind. Because of her great skills she was assigned to a hut up on the side of the mountain where she worked alone.

Below her on the streets of the village, the soldiers for the Afterlife were made in assembly-line fashion. The bravest of the Emperor’s soldiers came, one by one and met with each group of crafts people to be copied into clay.

On the first street, a set of workers fashioned arms, still another, the torso. The men then marched over to the street where legs were made. Another group replicated armor and at last each one went to the hut of a Master Sculptor to have their heads shaped into terracotta.

Each Master carefully patted the faces carefully imprinting the eyes, nose, mouth, into their fingers so that they could impress those features into the clay. After the head was finished and fired by the Master in his own kiln it was sent to the main assembling area and put together with other pieces of the soldier.

The Emperor’s Army

Because his family raised horses, Hsiang Xirui was already a rider of distinction. In his first battle he saved the life of one of his officers. Again and again he proved his bravery. Despite his low birth status, he was made an officer.

The soft features of the strong gentle young man became the scarred, sharp outlines of a warrior. Yet, for all of his glory in the Emperor’s service, Hsiang Xirui’s heart remained that of the gentle farm boy who loved Li Hui Zhong. He thought constantly of how he might find and rescue her.

Some five years after their parting, Hsiang Xirui was received orders to go to the Village of the Terracotta warriors.

As his legs were measured and moulds made, he scanned the crowd for someone he knew from home who might be able to lead him to Li Hui Zhong.

As the craftsmen poked and prodded and sent him from one workshop to another he prayed to find her.

At last it was time for Hsiang Xirui to climb the path to the Master face sculptor. He followed a path high above the smoke to the workshop door, and stopped. The Master Sculptor was finishing another head.

Hsiang Xirui watched slim fine fingers flying over the clay patting it here. The head looked as though it were about to speak! Hsiang Xirui gasped! “Come in,” called the Master.

Hsiang Xirui stood before the Master who hardly looked at him. Hsiang Xirui looked intently at the slight build, hair and face covered with ash and clay. The Master’s fingers flew over Hsiang Xirui’s face, measuring the distance between the eyes. Memorizing each feature. When the Master’s fingers fluttered from cheeks to lips, Hsiang Xirui allowed himself a small smile.

“What is this? You are to guard the Emperor!” the Master barked. “No smiles! Serious work!”

“Very,” replied Hsiang Xirui.

The Master gasped! It was the voice she knew and loved. Her fingers returned to his face, with a softer touch. Tears trickled down through the dust on her cheeks. Her fingers next brushed his lips again. He kissed them lightly.

“My beloved,” he whispered.

Li Hui Zhong continued to work so that no one would discover their secret. Hsiang Xirui told her that he always hoped to find her and told her of his plan to take her away.

“Our parents are already in a safe place. We will meet them. After you finish my head and send it on, we will escape.”

“I will leave word that I had to leave early to go back to camp. But instead, I will take you away.”

As she finished the head of Hsiang Xirui, in a small gesture of defiance to the Emperor, she parted the lips of the statue of the young Lieutenant into an ever so slight smile and sent it on for assembly.

Escape

That night, Li Hui Zhong lit her kiln and left the door of the kiln open. She set of jar of oil and a basket of fireworks next to the kiln. As they rode away the flames traveled to the fireworks. In a few minutes the small hut exploded. Fire poured out of the jar around the kiln.

Rushing to stop the spreading flames from reaching other huts no one noticed that Hsiang Xirui was gone. The next morning they read his scroll were glad that his final sculpture was not damaged in the fire. They saw the slight smile but no one had time to redo the head— Hsiang Xirui was gone and who could equal the work of Li Wu the Younger?

They mourned the passing of Li Wu the Younger, one of the best workmen any of them had ever known. The craftsmen from their home village mourned also for the real person, Li Hui Zhong, and for the cruel fate that had separated her from her beloved. But when they saw the finished statue of the smiling Lieutenant, they recognized Hsiang Xirui.

Their gloom turned to joy and they toasted the young pair with plum wine to celebrate that the two had met again for they saw the smile, they knew its meaning—and now so do you.

Joan Leotta
Author and Story Performer
"Encouraging words through pen and performance"

www.joanleotta.com

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